Life Preservers + Sketch Inspirations = 1 Yummy Prize!

Did you know?  Life Preserver's Club is sponsoring Sketch Inspiration this week, how exciting!  As part of this collaborative effort, our Design Team was asked to create a layout using this weeks sketch. I had such a great time with it and I know that you will too!  Don't forget to play along, the prize is a super yummy gift certificate to the LP Store in the amount of a Mega Kit.  Now that is one awesome prize!!!

Here's the new Sunday sketch for this week:

I have been so excited to dig into my May Featured kit with all the beautiful Crate Papers and My Mind's Eye goodness and this was just the opportunity!  Here is what I did with the sketch. The smirky 5x7 photo is by Portrait Innovations. : )   "Member of the All Boy's Club"

I used a Jenni Bowlin diecut and traced the shape onto this paper, then hand stitched it. The photo is pop dot mounted to allow for some room for the ribbon and a journaling card. I stitched my ribbon by machine and scrunched it as I went. Since I used white thread, I decided to hide the stitch marks with the ric-rak.

I used my trusty Helmar zap dots in white and clear on the word "Member" so I could obtain a variety of depths. I also used my Helmar 450 on the flowers. Next, I dug out my lonely Dymo labeler and corner rounder (thanks to Laura-Lee and Jodi for the inspiration!). The sketch was a lot of fun and I just love how the colors in the kit worked so well with this photo!

Non kit items used:

- 2 Prima Flowers

- Thickers

- Mini Alphas by MLS

- Thread

- McGill folder punch

- Dymo Labeler

- Corner Chomper

- Ric-rak

I can't wait to see your take on this sketch!  As always, thank you so much for stopping on over!!! 

Growing Up Fast and Vacation!

It's interesting how you hear cliche comments and don't think much of them until they happen later to you and then you have an "aha" moment!  Yes, I will admit that today, I am a total victim of this. 

As I reviewed our recent photos of the boys, I discovered quickly that I do not see much of a glimmer of 'baby' at all anymore in my 2.5 year old.  That's ok, it's exciting to see him grow and change but in that brief moment, a slight panic sets in...  one that makes you fear that you're missing things because life sometimes just feels like it moves too quickly. 

I've been a little missing in action this past week.  We took a week for vacation and decided to go the "staycation" route and work on some home projects.  I got a little break in all of this action and finally got some scrappy time in too.  I will post that fun scrappy stuff on Sunday! 

I hope you have a very safe and fun long Holiday weekend!  Thank you so much for stopping on by!

My Little Bucket Boyz!

I thought I would share with you one of my final April projects that I created using the April Featured Life Preserver's kit that is full of Jillibean Soup, 3 Bugs in a Rug and Creative Charms goodness!

So the story with the photos for this page... the little baby decided to play with the buckets first, then older brother had to join on in! They bring me such joy every single day and I feel so very blessed to be their Mom.

I added some Ranger crackle accents to the alpha stickers after I pop-dotted them into place.  I love the effect that this gave as it curled the stickers up slightly.  I don't know what it is about buttons lately, but I had to put a few in place to make it look like they fell out of the bucket.

I also used some Diamond Stickles to accent the "trail" of the bees.  I used my Bazzil stitching template at the bottom because it was so lonely up on the wall.  ***giggles***  Finally, I discovered in my stash the green felt scallop trim and the green gingham ribbon and found them a few new "homes".

These papers were just fun to work with, whimsical and a good match for my silly boy photos. 

Thank you so much for stopping on by!  Have a super scrappity weekend!!!

Unscripted Sketches #55 Challenge

As you may have guessed, I'm usually up for a good challenge most of the time.  Last night was no exception as I was surfing around, I came across the latest Unscripted Sketches challenge.   Here is their sketch for #55 using some of the papers and ink that screamed "chocolate" to me!:

This is what I did for it using my April Card Kit from Life Preserver's.

The papers in this kit are from the Scrap Within Reach 'Urban Garden' line and it also includes Crafty Secrets Stickers. I added the cute little Stampin Up bird, 1 Kaiser brown pearl for the eye, rock candy distress stickles on her wings and diamond stickles on the sentiment. I threaded through the anchor stickers and of course added those two Little Yellow Bicycle pins and the three little Darico bling jewels at the bottom because it felt naked without some bling!

I've been wanting to break in my new little Stampin Up bird punch and had just the opportunity to do it here!  Thanks for stopping on by and have a super scrappity day!

It's time for a Cardabilities Reveal!!!

(Please Keep Scrolling Down for the ScrapFit Reveal Too!)

May 15th, can it really be true?  Where o where has the month of May gone?  It seems like just a moment ago it was March to me.  I'm not complaining about welcoming Spring mind you, not here in Minnesota!  We're just hoping that we don't get any more snow in May!

Here's a little lift for your springtime blues if you have them.  Our third Cardabilities sketch reveal!  Here is the current sketch and trust me, you are going to lovvvvvve this!

Here is my interpretation using the April Life Preserver's Card Kit.

The papers in this kit are from the Scrap Within Reach 'Urban Garden'  line, including Crafty Secrets Stickers for the sentiment.  I added the Zva Creative bling, Prima butterfly, Diamond stickles, Martha Stewart border punches (butterflies, butterfly border and scallop).  I used the Sizzix argyle embossing folder for my base.

I hope you are having some wonderful Spring weather where you are at!  Have a super scrappity day and thank you so much for stopping by!

ScrapFit Workout #20

Just Do It!

It's time for a whole new Workout over at ScrapFit!  Ladies, this challenge is really fun!  Cardstock only!  Let your imagination run wild!  This is what I came up with just using my present stash of scrappy goodies:

I dug into my stash of Prima Nursery Tales and found that lovely shimmer pink and cream cardstock and recalled this awesome new flower tutorial that I had wanted to give a try.  I want to give a special shout out to one of my scrappy inspirations, Gabrielle Pollacco for this fabulous flower tutorial!  The embossing folder is the new Tim Holtz Alterations Damask. 

I'd love to see what you come up with for this challenge!  Our sponsor this month is Scrapbook Circle and this is the super yummy prize: 

Make sure you pop on over to ScrapFit to check out the other Design Team creations and to play along!

Thanks for stopping by and have a SUPER scrappity day!

Life Preserver's Blog Hop Winner!

The Life Preservers Blog Hop was a fabulous success!  The ladies created so many amazing projects and the gallery is just brimming full of scrappy goodness!   I hope that everyone had a super fun time!

Check out the overall winner over on the LPS Blog and visit each of the Design Team's individual blogs to see if you have won elsewhere.

My random winner using Radomizer.org is ………..Carla!!!. Please send your address to snapwhiz@gmail.com so that I can get your RAK to you. Thank you to everyone who played along with us!

As always, thanks so much for stopping on over!  Have a super scrappity day!

My Easter Basket Blessing...

Happy Tuesday to you! 

I hope you were able to get a little scrapping done to celebrate National Scrapbooking Day.  This is what I was working on using the Life Preserver's April Featured Kit with my handy dandy scissors, crackle accents, glossy accents and lots of stickles.  I also got to use a few of my newer border punches!  This kit has these really cute Creative Charms daisy flowers, I just love how super cheerful they are.

I just 'had' to use these little clothespins that I scooped up on clearance for a song.  I think they added just the right extra little touch. I used lots of pop dots on the banner.  The yellow flower is the ribbon stitched and layered behind the little daisy.

I also added crackle accents to my little cut out eggs, glossy accents to my little bees and stickles here and there for a little extra interest.

I hope you have a super scrappity day and week!  Thanks so much for stopping on by!

Life Preserver's Club DT Blog Hop and Reveals!

Happy May Day and National Scrapbooking Day to you! 

Scrapbooking is such a wonderful component to each of our lives. It is something that we all share in common. We all have different styles that make each of us unique. We all have various reasons that we got into scrapbooking. 

• I got into scrapping so that my children would have a baby book to look back on and never wonder about their milestones.  I never want their quirky sayings to get lost in the whirl of our busy lives. 

For National Scrapbooking Day the design team, hosted by Life Preservers wanted to bring a little extra excitement to the day. We have partnered up amongst ourselves to provide you with challenges. The good thing about Spring is there are so many different reasons to celebrate in addition to National Scrapbook Day.

If you arrived here from Sharon's blog, you are right on track!  Make sure you check out what her part of our challenge is!!!

All you have to do to participate in this blog hop is to visit the Design Teams blogs. Do the challenge posted and link your creation to their comments. You can link this from your gallery on Life Preservers if you would like.

• There will be links to follow on each of our blogs.
• Make sure you comment on each DT blog with your creation if so applicable.
• For each challenge that you do you will be entered into a random drawing for a prize from Life Preservers.

To top this off, today I have 2 posts, a reveal for Cardabilities (see below please!), plus one for ScrapFit and the Life Preservers's right here for the blog hop!  That's a whole lot of scrappity fun!  Let's get started shall we?!!

Sharon and I teamed up to bring you a fun two part card sketch challenge.  A very special thanks to Karan Gerber for allowing us to use the Sketchabilities sketches for our challenge to you!

Part I:  Create a Mother's Day card using a Life Preserver's kit and one of the two sketches below.

Here are the sketches we chose:
Sharon's pick:

Rhonda's pick:

Here is what I created with that fabulous sketch 8 for a Mother's Day card using the April Featured Life Preserver's kit:













Part II:  Rhonda challenges you to create one more card for a scrappy friend who you think is a great Mom!  You can use the other sketch if you wish or make your own fabulous creation!

This next button cloud card is also my reveal for ScrapFit today!  The current ScrapFit challenge is to create a project from your stash.  No new anything! 

Thank you so much for participating in Life Preservers first annual NSD Blog Hop!  Please hop on over to Jodi's Blog now for even more fabulous inspiration!

Cardabilities Sketch #2 Reveal

Mayday!!  Mayday!!! 

Can you believe that it is already May 1st?  I sure can't!  I'm so very excited today to share with you the next gorgeous sketch that we got to work with over at Cardabilities.  Isn't this scrumptious??

Now when I saw the sketch all I could think of is how elegant it is to create a beautiful wedding card.  I decided to use up my March Life Preserver's Kit to create it.  Here is what I created:

I decided to create some variation on my little chocolate Prima rosebuds as well as the bird wings by going a little artsy with a little Textured Effects.  It turned out subtle, but almost gives a porcelain feel.

Be sure to stop on by to Cardabilities and create a card using this awesome sketch!!  I can't wait to see what you create.  As always, thank you so much for stopping on by!